Authoritarianism and decisions of mock juries: Evidence of jury bias and group polarization.

A mock-jury experiment investigated the effects of authoritarianism on juror and jury decisions and examined the generalizability of the group polarization hypothesis for a simulated jury task. 132 high- and 125 low authoritarians (as assessed by the California F Scale) listened to a murder trial and then made judgments about guilt and punishment as individuals, in 6 person juries, and again after deliberations as individuals. As predicted, both high-authoritarian jurors and juries reached guilty verdicts more frequently and imposed more severe punishment than low authoritarians. Further, high authoritarians showed more prediscussion–postdiscussion verdict changes than low authoritarians. Results also support the polarization hypothesis in a jury paradigm. Deliberations produced a shift toward greater severity of punishment for high authoritarians but toward increased leniency for low authoritarians. Guilt verdicts shifted toward acquittal for all jurors. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarianism, punitiveness, and perceived social status.

Ss were 101 introductory psychology students, 48 of whom were high scorers and 53 of whom were low scorers on an authoritarianism scale. A series of 24 separate stimulus cards of a semiprojective nature similar to the Rosenzweig pictures studied some of the interrelationships among authoritarianism, punitiveness, and status. The data indicate that low authoritarians respond to frustrators independently of their status. "… punitiveness is a function of both the personality of the individual and the particular stimulus environment that elicits the behavior." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of two types of xenophilic orientation.

"A sample of 422 college students at Boston University responded to scales measuring tendencies toward xenophilia, authoritarianism, hostility toward typical Americans, willingness to stereotype, and interest in travelling abroad… . High scorers on the Xenophile Scale can be distinguished from low scorers on the above dimensions. High xenophiles seem to be more willing to stereotype, express hostility toward typical Americans, and express a stronger desire to travel than low xenophiles. Predictions were made concerning two varieties of high xenophiles, high scorers and low scorers on the California F scale. It was found that the low authoritarians were more attracted to things foreign than the highs along several dimensions. Furthermore among low scorers on the Xenophile scale, clear distinctions were found among the high and low F scale scorers. The highs were more willing to stereotype than were the lows." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influences of student background and teacher authoritarianism on teacher expectations.

Asked 25 White elementary school teachers to predict the academic grades and occupational attainment of 6 students: a middle-class White boy; a middle-class White girl; a lower-class White boy; a lower-class White girl; a middle-class Asian boy; and a middle-class Asian girl. In addition, teachers were classified as high or low in authoritarianism based on their tolerance of ambiguity and cognitive complexity. It was found that higher grade and occupational expectations were held for middle-class than for lower-class students. Grade expectations were higher for girls than boys and tended to be higher for Asians than Whites. White females were expected to attain higher occupational status than Asian females, but Asian males were expected to surpass White males on this measure. Finally, teachers who were high authoritarians were more likely than low-authoritarian teachers to utilize stereotypes that favored ingroups and tended to be less likely to use stereotypes that favored outgroups. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarian dynamics and unethical decision making: High social dominance orientation leaders and high right-wing authoritarianism followers.

When dilemmas require trade-offs between profits and ethics, do leaders high in social dominance orientation (SDO) and followers high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) make decisions that are more unethical than those made by others? This issue was explored in 4 studies with female participants performing managerial role-playing tasks. First, dyads comprising a person who was either low or high in SDO and a person who was either low or high in RWA negotiated for a leadership position. People high in SDO were more likely to obtain leader positions than to obtain follower positions. No other effects were significant. Second, leaders high in SDO partnered with an agreeable (confederate) follower made decisions that were more unethical than those of leaders low in SDO. Third, followers high in RWA were more acquiescent to and supportive of an unethical (confederate) leader than were followers low in RWA. Fourth, high SDO leader-high RWA follower dyads made decisions that were more unethical than those made in role-reversed dyads because leaders had more influence. Implications of these results for conceptualizing SDO, RWA, and authoritarian dynamics are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trait versus state anxiety, authoritarianism and ego threat versus physical threat.

Examined the effects of individual differences (authoritarianism, trait anxiety) and situational factors (ego and physical threat) on state anxiety (A-state). 60 male undergraduates were given Kohn's Authoritarianism-Rebellion Scale, the WAIS Block Design subtest, Endler's S-R Inventory of Anxiousness, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. It was predicted that high and low authoritarian Ss, and high and low trait anxiety (A-trait) Ss would report different amounts of A-state arousal as a function of ego threat. Ss were divided into 2 groups of high and low authoritarians and performed a task under ego-threat (failure) or physical-threat (shock) conditions. A post hoc split of Ss' A-trait scores provided A-state data on high vs low A-trait under threat conditions. Ego threat and physical threat both produced A-state arousal. Physical threat created greater A-state arousal than ego threat for high A-trait Ss. Contrary to W. F. Hodges's 1968 findings, under physical threat high A-trait Ss reported greater A-state arousal than low A-trait Ss. C. D. Spielburger's trait-state anxiety theory is compared with N. S. Endler and J. McV. Hunt's interaction model of anxiety. (French summary) (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of procedural fairness and leader support on interpersonal relationships among group members.

In this article, the authors examine the impact of fair treatment by a group leader on people's relationships with and feelings toward other individual group members. Previous studies neglected procedural fairness effects on interpersonal relationships between group members. The authors hypothesized that fairness affects interpersonal relationships and feelings toward another group member only when the leader is regarded as representative and supported by the other group members. In three studies, the authors manipulated procedural fairness (no voice vs. voice) and other group member's support for the leader (full vs. mixed support for the leader). Two vignette studies supported the hypothesis. In addition, an experimental laboratory study showed that this interaction effect between procedural fairness and leader support was most pronounced among those with high belongingness needs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leader group prototypicality and job satisfaction: The moderating role of job stress and team identification.

The authors examined the relationship between leader group prototypicality (the extent to which a leader is representative of the collective identity) and job satisfaction as an indicator of leadership effectiveness. Leader group prototypicality was expected to interact with job stress and team identification, such that leader group protototypicality is more strongly related to job satisfaction for followers with higher job stress and team identification. Two cross-sectional surveys (N = 329 and N = 89) conducted with the employees of 4 Italian organizations provided support for this hypothesis. The authors discuss how these findings extend our understanding of leadership effectiveness within the social identity model of leadership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental manipulation of authoritarianism and its effect on creativity.

Examined the hypothesis that authoritarianism and creativity may be opposite poles of the same continuum. 500 undergraduates were administered the California F Scale and the Personal Opinion Survey measure of creativity. A total of 80 Ss were chosen to fit 4 groups: males high in authoritarianism and low in creativity, females high in authoritarianism and low in creativity, males high in creativity and low in authoritarianism, and females high in creativity and low in authoritarianism. A modified Asch-type conformity situation was used to see if changing authoritarianism would affect creativity scores. All 4 groups had their authoritarianism manipulated in the predicted direction, and this resulted in changed creativity scores for all groups except the high-authoritarian males. Results support the hypothesis. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Political and child-rearing attitudes in Sweden.

"3 groups of questionnaire items were constructed to measure authoritarian political attitudes, authoritarian child-rearing attitudes, and authoritarian aspects of upbringing. 144 adults from a random sample in a Swedish town were interviewed. It was found that individuals who made strict demands as parents expected in turn that strict demands be made on them as citizens. Significant positive correlations were also found between authoritarianism of upbringing and authoritarianism of both political and child-rearing attitudes. These findings verified predictions which had been derived from 3 hypotheses concerning the nature of the relationship between roles of authority and roles of submission." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leadership and popularity as a function of behavioral predictions.

Two hypotheses regarding leadership behavior are tested by means of a social prediction test derived from the Rosenzweig P-F test. The leadership hypothesis states that S's who are ranked high in the leadership dimension will be more successful in estimating the predictions made by each group member to a list of test situations than S's ranked low in this dimension. The popularity hypothesis states that leaders who are ranked high on the popularity dimension will be more successful in estimating predictions made on them by group members to a list of test situations than leaders who are ranked low on this dimension. Both hypotheses were confirmed but the design of the experiment precludes generalizations to leaders as a group, claiming only that significant findings existed within the group studied. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of information on the assessment of attitudes by authoritarians and nonauthoritarians.

"This study was concerned with the effects of differentially relevant information on social judgments of authoritarians and nonauthoritarians. After listening to standard recorded interviews, the content of which was derived from the theoretical clusters of the F scale, Ss made judgments about the respondent's F scale attitudes and his values. It was hypothesized that Ss low in F are better able to use information for making accurate judgments. On the whole, results confirmed the hypothesis, although there was some evidence that Ss low in F, as well as those high in F, tended toward stereotyped thinking." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leadership and the spatial factor in small groups.

The present study extends the hypothesis that "persons tend to interact more in group discussion with persons sitting opposite them than they do with their neighbors." This effect seems to be manifested most strongly in groups with no designated leader. "It will tend to disappear in groups where group direction is shared about equally by the members and the designated leader, and it will be reversed in situations where the designated leader gives very strong direction." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of hostility to authoritarianism.

A manifest hostility scale, consisting of items drawn from the MMPI, and the Elizur Rorschach Content Test were given to groups differing in degree of authoritarianism. Statistical analysis of the relationship between the manifest hostility scale and authoritarianism indicated that groups high on the dimension of authoritarianism have greater overt hostility than groups lower on this dimension. Results relevant to the relationship between the Rorschach Content Test and authoritarianism indicated a less certain tendency for groups low on the dimension of authoritarianism to have greater covert hostility than groups higher on this dimension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leader Self-Sacrifice and Leadership Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Leader Prototypicality.

Self-sacrificing behavior of the leader and the extent to which the leader is representative of the group (i.e., group prototypical) are proposed to interact to influence leadership effectiveness. The authors expected self-sacrificing leaders to be considered more effective and to be able to push subordinates to a higher performance level than non-self-sacrificing leaders, and these effects were expected to be more pronounced for less prototypical leaders than for more prototypical leaders. The results of a laboratory experiment showed that, as expected, productivity levels, effectiveness ratings, and perceived leader group-orientedness and charisma were positively affected by leader self-sacrifice, especially when leader prototypicality was low. The main results were replicated in a scenario experiment and 2 surveys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of leader outcomes on influence, attributions, and perceptions of charisma.

This study addressed how various outcomes to a leader might influence not only how that leader is perceived but also the degree of influence that leader might subsequently obtain. On the basis of recent charismatic leadership theories, it was expected that leaders who appeared willing to endure hardship for the expression of their beliefs would be perceived differently than leaders who appeared to benefit in some way. The relationship between outcomes and subsequent leader influence was confirmed. Sacrificing resulted in greater influence, whereas benefiting reduced it. This relationship was mediated by attributions made about leader motives. The relationship between outcomes and influence was also mediated by perceptions of charisma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural investigation of the relationship between ethnic prejudice, authoritarian ideology, and personality.

The studies done re the validation of the relationship between prejudice and authoritarianism on American Ss confounded ethnic prejudice and political attitude by the nature of the sample. An effort was made to investigate ethnic prejudice (as measured by the F Scale) independent of political (radical-conservatism) commitment by using Ss (Israeli students) demonstrating differential attitudes towards Arabs, but unanimity of feeling against Jewish immigrants from North Africa. The results provided a cross-cultural validation of the relationship between prejudice and authoritarianism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does group climate mediate the group leadership–group member outcome relationship?: A test of Yalom's hypotheses about leadership priorities.

I. D. Yalom's (1995) hypothesis that group climate mediates the relationship between leadership and outcome was tested. Group leaders (N?=?43) recorded intentions, and adolescent group members (N?=?233) rated climate after 8 semistructured group sessions. Members also rated satisfaction at termination. Leader intentions comprised 4 dimensions: therapeutic work, safe environment, interpersonal, and group structure. Changing group climates did mediate between these intentions and member outcome. Therapeutic work was negatively related and safe environment was positively related to an increasingly active and engaged climate, which was related to treatment benefit. Group structure and possibly interpersonal intentions were related to a climate decreasing in conflict and distance, which was related to a positive leader relationship. The importance of leaders focusing on group process rather than individual change is highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collective narcissism and its social consequences.

This article introduces the concept of collective narcissism—an emotional investment in an unrealistic belief about the in group’s greatness—aiming to explain how feelings about an ingroup shape a tendency to aggress against outgroups. The results of 5 studies indicate that collective, but not individual, narcissism predicts intergroup aggressiveness. Collective narcissism is related to high private and low public collective self-esteem and low implicit group esteem. It predicts perceived threat from outgroups, unwillingness to forgive outgroups, preference for military aggression over and above social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and blind patriotism. The relationship between collective narcissism and aggressiveness is mediated by perceived threat from outgroups and perceived insult to the ingroup. In sum, the results indicate that collective narcissism is a form of high but ambivalent group esteem related to sensitivity to threats to the ingroup’s image and retaliatory aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)